WRDA SET TO SAIL TODAY: The Senate will wrap up work on the Water Resources Development Act today after votes on six amendments and then final passage, beginning this morning around 10:30 a.m. Things had fallen into place for a Tuesday evening “vote-a-rama,” but only two roll calls were taken and the rest were pushed to today. Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer whipped out a mixed transportation metaphor to say the bill should be easily approved today. “We’re going on a very speedy train toward final passage, it’s very good,” she told MT. “I never predict exactly, but I think there will be a very strong majority in the Senate voting for this.”

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Amendment to watch today: Tom Udall will get a vote on his alteration ( http://politico.pro/10JjbuH) that would turn the bill’s study and project acceleration language into five-year pilot programs. Udall’s amendment is supported by green groups that dislike the bill’s “streamlining” provisions, but is likely to be opposed by Republicans who want to save money by completing project reviews and construction more quickly. The key wrinkle? All the amendments today need majority votes, NOT the usual 60-vote threshold.

Tuesday’s amendment action: Pat Toomey was able to torpedo a flood insurance amendment vote, Marco Rubio was denied a vote on his legislation targeting IRS employees who single out organizations for increased scrutiny based on their ideology and the Senate adopted 20 amendment by unanimous consent. The one that MT’s maritime readers likely care most about is an offering from Sens. Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow that states that the “primary use” of the harbor fund is to deepen and widen ports and harbors and that “those functions should be given first consideration in the budgeting of Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund allocations.” Check it out: http://politico.pro/10MCAAC

VOTE NO: Heritage Action for America is including WRDA on its scorecard, urging lawmakers to vote against the $12 billion legislation. Heritage Action says the CBO score is actually low and the substitute developed by Boxer and Sen. David Vitter “will drive that cost significantly higher.” http://bit.ly/19pk5Sh

FIRST LOOK — Sequester fallout: House Appropriations Democrats are out with a new report this morning on the impacts of sequestration, including the argument made by airports that the FAA’s new spending flexibility spares controller furloughs and towers at the cost of the much-needed Airport Improvement Program. The Dems note that the FAA still has to find $630 million in savings even with the tailored spending flexibility. The report’s first bullet point under “public safety” puts it bluntly, saying that swapping controllers for airport projects “robs Peter to pay Paul — taking money from critical long-term needs.” It also looks at the TSA, which sure seems to be working to avoid the predicted delays coming during the peak summer travel season: “In an effort to mitigate these problems, TSA is expected to submit a reprogramming notification in the next few weeks that would move funds from other areas to cover these immediate shortfalls.” MT has you covered if you want to peruse full report ( http://politico.pro/10O0N9K) or executive summary ( http://politico.pro/12axXNp).

UPHILL CLIMB: Although we at MT are eager to beat out our fellow Pro writers for Mark Sanford’s talent on the T&I committee, it’s not a done deal yet by any means as the former governor prepares for his swearing-in this afternoon. There are other vacancies on House committees for example, at least one additional special election in the future (June 4 for Missouri’s Eighth) and Republican Steering Committee activities all to get past. Any movement on any of those fronts could lead to a House-wide game of musical chairs. That said, it’s still a possibility that Sanford will be on the committee that oversees roads, bridges, trains and yes, even hiking.

EOBR RULE PUSHED BACK: One of DOT’s big rules coming from MAP-21, to require electronic recording devices on trucks, has been pushed back, according to the agency’s monthly rulemaking update that was released this week. Each of the procedural steps, from being sent to OMB to being published to the end of a comment period, were delayed about two months. The target publication date is now Nov. 18 — it was Sept. 13 in last month’s report. DOT stuck to a standard line in explaining the delay: “Additional coordination necessary.” Check out the report for much more: http://1.usa.gov/ZY6g9c

Downgraded: DOT also “downgraded” another rule governing doctors who clear truck drivers for service and aims to publish it by the end of July. “This rulemaking was recently downgraded to nonsignificant and will not appear on next month’s report,” DOT said.

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I’LL DRINK TO THAT: The National Transportation Safety Board wants states to lower the blood-alcohol threshold for drunk driving from 0.08 percent to 0.05 percent. It’s one of several ideas part of a new report ( http://1.usa.gov/10wPKMt), along with ignition interlock devices, as the agency looks to cut drunk driving deaths — currently about 10,000 a year — down to zero. But the beverage industry isn’t on board with the idea. American Beverage Institute Managing Director Sarah Longwell called the proposal “ludicrous,” saying that a woman might crack the threshold after just a glass of wine, exactly the opposite of the type of drunken driving scofflaw that should be focused on. “This recommendation criminalizes behavior that is completely responsible,” she said. Burgess has the story: http://politi.co/18Iz8c3

DISTRACTED DRIVING, TOO: The nation’s four biggest cellphone carriers — AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile — are teaming up to reduce texting while driving. AT&T has already been pushing its “It Can Wait” campaign to cut distracted driving, but the new coalition includes the other big carriers and 200 more groups. AP: http://politico.pro/128w7wy

Local angle: One-quarter of Northern Virginia drivers on I-95 reported a near-miss as a result of distracted driving, according to a AAA/Transurban-Fluor survey. http://bit.ly/17rNPkS

FOXX WATCH: Senate Commerce ranking member John Thune hopes to meet with DOT nominee Anthony Foxx on Thursday. The South Dakotan said he hasn’t yet seen anything that could derail the Charlotte mayor’s nomination but noted that the scrutiny is ongoing. “We’ll have opportunities to examine his record fully. I’m not aware of anything at this point, but like I’ve said, we haven’t had a chance to really look at it yet,” Thune told reporters. Commerce Chairman Jay Rockefeller said he wants to hold a hearing “at the end of May, but that depends upon if we have all the information.” Rockefeller declined to answer follow-up questions, saying “I’m giving you no news because there is no news.”

Quiet supporter: Maria Cantwell met with Foxx last week; she didn’t blast out a press release, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t a fan. “I think he’ll be a fine nominee for transportation,” she said, adding that she has no issues with the pick.

HIGHWAY TRUST FUND UPDATE: It’s still going broke, but CBO put some numbers to the problem in a new update released Tuesday. At the end of fiscal 2014, when MAP-21 expires, the highway account will have only $4 billion left and the transit account will have $2 billion — both dangerously close to the “cushion” balance needed to keep funds flowing smoothly. The negative numbers stack up quickly after that — by 2023, the highway account will be $97 billion short and the transit coffers will have $35 billion less than needed. Give the chilling chart a look: http://1.usa.gov/129sqGW

MT POLL — Whither WRDA? What are your thoughts on the Senate’s version of WRDA? Good, bad or indifferent? Maybe you’re waiting on the House measure or can’t decipher the convoluted legislative text. Vote before Sunday at noon: http://bit.ly/ZSVEZo

- Boeing has resumed delivering its 787 Dreamliner to customers, with the first going to All Nippon Airways. http://bit.ly/16byFQZ

- Explosions, fire underneath Metro train snarled Red Line traffic last night. CBS has video of the electrical explosions (mute it unless you like cursing): http://cbsloc.al/19qLByN

- “I do think the name ‘John Dingell’ would look very good on this bridge,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said of Ann Arbor’s new span. AnnArbor.com: http://bit.ly/10FZwwU

THE COUNTDOWN: DOT funding and passenger rail policy both run out in 139 days. Surface transportation policy is up in 507 days and FAA policy in 869 days. The mid-term elections are in 538 days.

CABOOSE — D’oh, you didn’t turn left: Buried in a list of 20 fun facts about The Simpsons is a one with a transportation connection. In 2009, GPS-maker TomTom hired Dan Castellaneta to record driving directions in the voice of Homer. “At one point, Homer’s voice was downloaded 128,500 times in the U.S. alone, which accounts for more than 40 percent of GPS devices in the world,” The Chive writes in its list. Give it a look: http://bit.ly/10Fc33C (h/t Jim Billimoria)

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About The Author

John Burgess Everett is a congressional reporter for POLITICO. He previously was a transportation reporter for POLITICO Pro, Web producer, helping run POLITICO’s Twitter and Facebook accounts, and a contributor to the On Media blog.

About The Author

Adam Snider is a transportation reporter for POLITICO Pro and author of Morning Transportation. He has covered transportation since 2007, joining POLITICO in 2011 to launch MT and later found the word “Mica-ism.”

Snider is a fan of all modes of transportation, though nothing beats a good silly walk. In his spare time, he can be found brewing a hoppy beer, rooting for the Nationals, watching a bad 1970s horror movie or exploring the District from his home base in Mount Pleasant.

Adam studied English and communications at Clemson University in South Carolina. His work has been featured by Nieman Journalism Lab and his snark has appeared on MSNBC. He has had several works of fiction published in literary journals and is constantly reminded of his proclamation to a fiction professor many years ago that journalism is for sellouts who abandon their creative dreams.